Guernica
Jose Leron Henriquez '''(born April 11th, 1990) better known by his ring-name '''Guernica is a lucha-wrestler and former amateur badminton player who is currently signed to Internet Wrestling Titles. His early career was riddled with various backstage quarrels and federations that died before the even began; and this put a slow down to Guernica's career until he reached the jumping pad of his career, Fucking A' Wrestling. Since the closing of FAW 2, he has been picked up by Next Generation Wrestling, Pro Wrestling ARK and Imperial Wrestling Federation. Guernica is best known for his babyface character, a luchador who respects the traditional ways of the ring and disagrees with what anybody says otherwise. He has held a number of nicknames under this gimmick including 'The Golden Eagle' and 'The Gladiator Of Lucha Libre'. It has been called his best gimmick my many pundits and critics. He is also well renowned for his risky and acrobatic style of fighting, which has often lead to injury. Professional Wrestling Career MPW-EWA (2012) In 2012, El Guernica was announced to have signed with MP-EWA. However, following his signing, he was released quickly after getting into an out-of-kayfabe quarrel with the owner of the company. Fucking Awesome Wrestling (2013) FAW Heavyweight Championship Feud After his departure from MPEWA, El Guernica managed to get picked up by FAW, a new-coming promotion. He, alongside The Gangsta Prince and other superstars would take part in a Fatal Four Way Roofed Cage Match, in which The Gangsta Prince prevailed. All four superstars would take part in a rematch, in a ladder match, where Guernica was noted for being taken out of the match after hitting a table spot. Following this, he was taken out of the world title race. Team with Tyrone Lavernius Following being taken out of the world title race, he lost a match against "The Big Black Machine "Tyrone Lavernius. The two shaked hands after the match, and later that month established a tag team. The two feuded with the FAW Tag Team Champions, Justin Case & Blake Wood. While they wouldn't win the titles, the titles would be vacated after Justin Case suffered a neck injury. However they couldn't win the titles in the tournament which followed. FAW TV Champion & Departure After the consequent disbanding of the team between Tyrone Lavernius & Guernica, he was placed in the TV Title race. During the time when Lavernius and Guernica were a team, the TV Champion was Yuri Boyka, infamous for beating superstars so hard that they puked blood and teeth. Guernica was put in a triple threat Ultimate X match, and won the championship, breaking Yuri Boyka's streak in the process. However, after a verbal fight with FAW Owner, Richard Cocksweaty Jr , he was stripped of the TV Championship. It was reported that he was booted from FAW later that month Various Promotions (2013) For the rest of the way through 2013, Guernica fought in various promotions for one-night-only deals. Return To FAW (2014) In 2014, it was announced that after the takeover of Tyrone Lavernius from Richard Cocksweaty Jr, El Guernica was re-signed to FAW. He cut multiple promos with seemingly face intentions. However, at FAW Rebirth, Guernica alongside Brandon Kaje, interfered in the FAW World Championship Contendership match, ruling the match a no-contest, thus turning heel for the first time in his career. Following, Tyrone Lavernius would book them in a 4 on 2 handicap match against The Church, but due to financial problems (ironically, caused by ratings drop from their interference), the match was scrapped. On July 18th 2014, Guernica returned, supporting a new companion; a rabid dog by the name of Lycan. Shortly after, FAW & ASW merged to become TWF-EWA, in which Guernica joined. TWF-EWA (2014) On July 20th, the opening day for TWF-EWA, Guernica signed a contract under the alias of Guernica II. He kept his trusty companion, Lycan; however, once again the promotion was doomed to fail under a very unstable financial backing. Guernica was among released from his contract before the company fell. Next Generation Wrestling / Furious Nightmare Wrestling (2015 - Present) Signing & Debut On January 9th, rumours broke out that Guernica was in talks with Next Generation Wrestling, an upcoming wrestling federation which was hoping to re-build on the ashes of FAW. On January 10th Guernica attended a trial, and later that day signed for NGW. On January 14th 2015, it was announced that at NGW: A New Hope, Guernica would face Andrew Bennett in the opening match, on February 15th. On February 7th, he cut his debut promo which received notable praise. On his twitter account: @GuernicaOfNGW (at the time), he started tweeting various messages hyping the match. At 'New Hope', Guernica triumphed over Bennett via Pinfall, moments after hitting the Eagle Dive. Heavyweight Championship Contention On March 1st, it was announced that Guernica would be 1 of 15 men fighting in a battle royal for the NGW Heavyweight Championship at NGW: Doomsday. On March 31st, Guernica entered the Battle Royale as the #12 competitor, and almost became champion after dunking Jeffrey Mason over the top rope. It is worth noting that Mason had earlier eliminated Zack Evans while hooded, and then revealed his identity after assaulting #15 entrant Tyler SIN and officially taking his place in the match. Guernica believed he had eliminated Mason, but only one of Mason's feet touched the outside, and so Mason re-entered the ring before eliminating Guernica. At NGW Uprising, Guernica defeated Chris Young; playing no part in either the non-title match between Tyler SIN and Jeffrey Mason or the #1 Contender's match between KOU Kazuma and Carlos Bello. However, following the Pay-Per-View, NGW General Manager. Walter Graham, announced that at the next show: NGW Downfall, Guernica would face off against Nathan Cage in a #1 Contender's Match following both of their 'spectacular performances' at Uprising (Nathan Cage had defeated hot prospect Danny Boy directly after Guernica defeated Chris Young). Independence Day Screwjob & Feud With Walter Graham At NGW Downfall, Guernica fought Nathan Cage. After Guernica took control with The Eagle Dive late in the match, he went for the pinfall only for the ref's count to be interrupted by NGW Owner, Walter Graham. Graham knocked out the referee before low blowing Guernica and hitting him with his match winning facebuster from his old wrestling days. Nathan Cage pinned Guernica and Graham did the three count himself. At NGW Cyberclash, Guernica defeated Walter Graham in a Lumberjack match with The Eagle Dive. After the match, as Guernica was celebrating, Graham stated "Rematch". Guernica tried to leave the ring, but Graham grabbed him and said: "There will be a rematch, and I will not be alone". After the show, it was announced that Graham and Guernica would partake in a five-man elimination tag team match at NGW Fallout. The stipulation was that if Guernica lost, he would not be able to compete for the NGW Heavyweight Championship, an opportunity that he was screwed out of at Downfall, as long as current champion Jeffrey Mason still held it. If Walter Graham lost, Graham would not be able to appear at any NGW shows in the flesh as long as Guernica remained contracted to the company. The match, which was hyped as 'Team Guernica vs Team Graham', caught wind all over NGW as it became the centrepiece of the show and became main-event, ahead of Jeffrey Mason's title defence against Slate Bass. Prior to the match, Graham declared that their one v one fight at 'Cyberclash' was 'unfair' considering his old, obsolete stature in the wrestling world and that Guernica lacked the respect that he showed in all of his other matches. Guernica dismissed these claims, and called the match a fight with 'a band of heroes facing your band of mercenaries'. At NGW Fallout, Guernica's team, which consisted of himself, The Danger Zone (Storm Andrews and Ryan Vendetta) and The World's Kawaiist Tag Team: WKTT (Raine and Sloane) defeated Team Graham, which consisted of himself, Extremely Lethal (Chris Jordan and Tyler Keenan), Carlos Bello and Chris Young. Guernica eliminated Walter Graham with the Eagle Dive. The matched ended up as a 1 v 1 battle between Guernica and Tyler Keenan of Extremely Lethal. After a hard fought battle, Guernica defeated Tyler Keenan with the Eagle Dive to win the match, ban Walter Graham from NGW shows, and become the sole survivor. After the match, the win was declared 'a victory for all of NGW'. NGW Heavyweight Championship Aspirations; Feud With Jeffrey Mason, Hiatus With Walter Graham out of the picture, Guernica was finally given the opportunity he was robbed of so long ago: a chance at The NGW Heavyweight Championship against Jeffrey Mason. It was announced that at NGW Meltdown, Guernica would face Jeffrey Mason in a Last Man Standing match. Prior to the match, many words were sent between the competitors. Mason told Guernica that 'you can't always be a hero' and tries to persuade Guernica to let the darkness take him and join The BloodlusT Revolution. Guernica however, criticized the revolution and went back to his roots of traditional, respectful wrestling. At Meltdown, Guernica's match against Jeffrey Mason is declared a draw. After Mason lines up an ambulance to run over Guernica, Mason threatens the driver of the ambulance. Walter Graham, who appears on titantron due to the stipulation of Guernica beating him, tries to calm Jeffrey, who refuses. As a result, Graham declares the match a no contest. It is also revealed that Graham originally wanted Mason to destroy Guernica and end his career, however he shows a change of heart as Mason goes seconds away from televising his murder. Graham states that if Mason touches Guernica before their inevitable rematch, then he and The BloodlusT Revolutionw will be banned from NGW. Then, it was announced that at NGW The Phantom Agony, #1 contender Brian Nebraska would be entered into an Ultraviolent Submission match between Guernica and Mason. At The Phantom Agony, NGW Heavyweight Championship Breifcase holder, Kelsey Taylor, cashed in and interfered in the match. Taylor locked in The Gates Of Hell on Guernica, who tapped out and resulted Taylor being crowned as new NGW Heavyweight Champion. After the match, Guernica was not booked for either NGW Prisoners of Winter or NGW Anniversary. Guernica was instead working as a road agent backstage at both of these events. Furious Nightmare Wrestling After NGW Anniversary, Next Generation Wrestling cancelled all future shows while it went under redevelopment. In May 2016, the corporation re-emerged under a new name, Furious Nightmare Wrestling. On June 25th, Guernica announced that he would take no further part in FNW. Imperial Wrestling Federation (2015; 2016) Unsuccessful Beginnings ''' On March 7th 2015, rumours spread that Guernica had agreed terms to join Imperial Wrestling Federation. The next day, on his Twitter account; he confirmed the deal saying 'It's official. I have signed for Imperial Wrestling Federation!', and the Spanish translation. His Twitter changed from @GuernicaOfNGW to @JLHGuernica to notify the change. On the March 19th 2015 edition of Thursday Night Training Grounds, Guernica lost his debut to 'Double M' Mike Madness. On March 29th, Guernica made his IWF PPV Debut, entering as the #3 competitor in the Roulette match. Guernica was the second person eliminated and was tossed out of the ring by Jack Gaither, who was the second last person eliminated in the match. On April 9th 2015, Guernica picked up his first IWF victory, beating John Tolly on Thursday Night Training Grounds. On April 16th 2015, Guernica lost yet again against the débutante Zach Staples. Following the merge of Training Grounds with the main show, Monday Night Sacrifice; Guernica made an unsuccesful debut; losing in a fatal four way match involving Aaron Owens, Mike Madness and Eddie Black on April 20th. On the April 27th edition of Sacrifice, during a four-way mixed tag-team match, Guernica fought with Mike Madness on the outside leaving to a match on May 3rd, at the Convergence PPV. Here, after the match started prematurely backstage, Guernica pinned Madness in the ring following a Tijuana Thunder. Once again Guernica took a hit to his momentum when he lost a triple threat match involving Aaron Owens and Alexander Atwater. After an absence due to inability to travel; Guernica returned on the June 1st at IWF's premier PPV, Night Of The Immortals, in an Ultimate X match to decide the #1 Contender for the IWF Invictus Championship; but he was not victorious. '''Heir To The Throne After an absence to the June 8th edition of Sacrifice, the opening to The Heir To The Throne tournament, Guernica won his H2TT Qualifier against Marco Keller on June 15th. On June 22nd, Guernica faced off against familiar faces in Alexander Atwater and Andrew Jacobsen aswell as the man who eliminated him from the IWF Roulette: Jack Gaither. Alexander Atwater left victorious. On the July 6th edition of Sacrifice, Guernica faced Kyle Mason and Alexander Atwater in a triple threat. After hitting Tijuana Thunder on Kyle Mason, it looked like Guernica was going to obtain the win only for Alexander Atwater to break up the pin at the last moment and steal the win by pinning Mason. On July 13th, Guernica lost again in a mixed tag-team match with Fiona McFly, with the match being won by Andrew Jacobsen and Emma Danielson. However, on July 20th in a surprising turn of events, Guernica beat Jack Gaither to get his first points on the board in time for the Lineage PPV. At Lineage in the Last Chance Saloon match, Guernica fought against Kyle Mason and Jack Gaither but lost our after Gaither pinned Mason, knocking out Mason and Guernica and putting Gaither through to the semi-finals. Invictus Championship Contention And Hiatus On the August 3rd edition of Sacrifice, Guernica interrupted The Celebration And Crowning of Mohamed Al Thani as Invictus Champion after he had defeated Aaron Owens at Lineage. Guernica challenged Al Thani for the Invictus Championship, however his request was rejected. However Al-Thani did agree to partake in a non-title match against Guernica on August 10th. On the August 10th edition of Sacrifice, Guernica defeated Al-Thani with The Dive. At the August 17th edition of Sacrifice, Guernica unsuccesfully teamed with Al-Thani, facing Aaron Owens and Rob Diamond. On August 24th, Guernica was announced to be facing Al-Thani for the Invictus Championship, alongside Alexander Atwater. However, Al-Thani sped up the expiry on his work permit, which appeared to put him out of contention for the championship. On August 30th at the Legacy PPV, Guernica made a surprise run in appearance and almost won the match. However, interference from DeMarius Thomas and a very late break up by Alexander Atwater meant that Guernica did not win. Guernica was pinned by Alexander Atwater. Following this loss, Guernica took a temporary hiatus from IWF. Independent Circuit (2015) On April 17th 2015, Guernica entered talks with Next Generation Wrestling's sister promotion, Pro Wrestling ARK; a company that has contributed to many of the great stars of NGW, and NGW has contributed the same back aswell. The next day, ARK officially announced the arrival of Guernica into the roster. Originally, Guernica was going to make his debut at the start of ARK Season Two. However, he was entered into a seven man ladder match contesting for the #1 Contender's Place for the ARK Grand Championship at the Season One Finale, Super ARK Brothers due to Aaron Watson dropping out following travel issues. Guernica was tipped as fan-favourite to win the match, but lost out to Will DeVille. Guernica is still on an open contract with ARK, but has yet to make another appearance. Original Internet Wrestling Titles (2016) In May 2016, rumours emerged that Guernica was going to come out of his hiatus and join some of his NGW co-workers at Internet Wrestling Titles. Despite not joining over at the same time as his co-workers, Guernica eventually signed a contract to work with them on June 24th 2016. He was drafted into IWT's Battleground Brand, and was scheduled to make his debut on VICE. Quickly rising through the ranks, Guernica defeated IWT legend Christian at IWT Summerslam, which granted him the chance to face James Dragon for the IWT TV Championship at Dragon Rising. After winning this match, IWT closed temporarily. New Internet Wrestling Titles (2017 - Present) On 17th October 2017, a newly re-birthed IWT announced the acquisition of Guernica. However, Guernica only agreed to work for the company part-time, not as a full time participant, due to wanting to spend more time with his family. Personal Life Early Life & Wrestling Ambitions Henriquez was born on April 11th, 1990 outside Tijuana. He was born into a family, who had a passion for wrestling. He has two older twin brothers, Fierro and Hugo; and a younger sister named Tamara. Tamara died at the age of 5 following a long fight with Adult Congenital Heart Disease. Fierro & Hugo have both taken on the career of professional badminton players. Henriquez was encouraged to follow the family tradition of finding it in the wrestling business. Henriquez's grandfather, Santiago Abano Henriquez was a professional wrestler known under the ring name, 'Baby Ica', named so due to his small size of 5'5. His father, Wilfredo Romero Henriquez worked for small promotions under the name 'Ica Salvage', translated to 'Wild Ica'; keeping on the name of his grandfather. José Leron had used the name 'Ica Treuno' which translates to 'Ica Thunder' for his backyard career; but chose the name 'El Guernica' after he started training at 'Ica's Lucha Libre'; his grandfather's wrestling academy in Tijuana. Due to his powerful speaking ability and his relation to those who ran the academy, Henriquez was quickly thrown into the spotlight, being predicted to be the most successful 'Ica'. He pranced The ILL Gladiator system to become the youngest graduate of the system at the age of 20. Badminton Career After his first failed graduation through the ILL Gladiator System, 2 years before his successful promotion; Henriquez originally decided that wrestling wasn't him and followed in the footsteps of his older brothers Hugo and Fierro to become a badminton player. He was tutored specifically by Hugo, with Fierro busy with internationals. Henriquez joined the local team, 'Tijuana Treuno' and became a star player for them in the absence of Fierro. After a mildly successful run; with a 71W/7D/22L ratio, he injured his ankle in international trials and was withdrawn. A fortnight later, with a heavily taped ankle, Henriquez graduated through The ILL Gladiator System at his 2nd attempt. He then decided to withdraw from all badminton activity to focus on making it in the wrestling industry. Recent Life Guernica is currently in no major relationships. He is Orthodox Christian, having converted from Roman Catholic Christian. He has been quoted in saying that Roman Catholic was 'complex' and that he had far less faith in it than he felt he should. He found Orthodox, 'believable' and has private mass sessions. On May 3rd, 2010, Henruquez's father, Wilfredo Romero Henriquez, was arrested on suspicion of tax evasion and major fraud. On trial, JL was seen crying and refused to enter the court. Wilfredo was jailed for 6 years, and JL was sent to rehabilitation having 'not spoken to anybody for weeks' after the incident. In Wrestling Finishers Eagle Dive (FAW | NGW) (2012 - 2013| 2015 - Present)/ Fall of Man (2014) - Tijuana Thunder (IWF) - Tiger Bomb Eagle Intentions (FAW | NGW) (2012 - 2015) - The Dive (IWF) - Diving Headbutt Signatures Golden Kick (FAW) (2012 - 2013)/ Savate Kick (NGW | IWF) (2014 - Present) - Savate Kick Golden Gate Bridge (NGW) (2012 - Present) - Bridge Over Tijuana (IWF) - Tiger Suplex; sometimes with bridging pin Guernica Special (FAW | NGW | IWF) (2012 - Present) - Forearm Smash, Shoot Kick, Heel Kick Combo Theme Music FAW | No Music (2013 - 2014) NGW, IWF & ARK | Lord Of The Land - Kevin McLeod (2015 - Present) Accomplishments MPEWA * Fastest Release In MPEWA History FAW * (1 Time) TV Champion * Appeared In First FAW Main Event * Only Known Person To Defeat Yuri Boyka IWT * (1 Time) TV Title __FORCETOC__